Tools and appliances with heated elements are used for various tasks and applications. Some home health and beauty appliances, such as hair straighteners, flat irons, and crimping irons have opposing heating elements for use to treat hair pressed between them. During and after their use, these appliances are often placed directly on a countertop, sink, tub or cabinet. As a result there is a risk that the appliance could damage the surface it's placed on. Moreover, injury can result if the heating elements are touched inadvertently. If placed precariously, the appliance can fall to the floor or even into the water, posing additional hazards.
The heatable elements on a hair straightener or the like will heat to temperatures of 200° C. or greater in order to properly function. To avoid damage to counter surfaces and the like the appliance must be carefully placed in the right attitude or the heating elements will contact the counter surface. There may also be a fire hazard should the heated elements come into contact with flammable materials such as tissue or clothing. Hair appliances with heated elements can also pose a danger to children and pets. Typically they lack any warning light or signals that they are hot.
Heated hair appliances also pose similar dangers in salons, barbershops and other workplaces where they are used. Customers may inadvertently touch or knock them over. There is a danger that the busy professional using the appliance might forget that it is hot.
Hair appliances are cooled by exposure to ambient air. As a result, the appliance is exposed for a significant amount of time often unattended while it cools sufficiently so that it can be safely stored away. This is a significant safety drawback for adults or children who might encounter the appliance while its still hot.
It is desirable therefore to have a holder that will safely retain the heated appliance during and after its use while it is still too hot to be safely handled or stored. It is also desirable to have a holder that will not be damaged by the heated elements of the appliance. Moreover, it is desirable to separate the heating elements when the appliance is hot. If the heating elements are kept too close to one another, they can be damaged and the life of the appliance reduced. Further, It is desirable to have a holder that is capable of receiving different sized and shaped appliances.
From an aesthetic and convenience standpoint it is preferable that the hair appliance be neatly and easily insertable into the holder.
There are a number of prior approaches to creating a holder for a hair appliance. However, all of these previous attempts have a single pocket. The result is that the two heating elements of the appliance are held in close proximity to one another when the appliance is placed in the holder. The closeness of the heating elements can damage them and can actually increase the amount of time it takes for the appliance to cool down after use.
What is needed therefore is a holder for heated hair and other appliances that safely and conveniently holds the appliance and that also physically separates the elements to better preserve them and facilitate cooling.